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Western and Arab powers agreed with Syrian opposition leaders Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad should be excluded from any future government, but urged the rebels to take part in a peace conference in Geneva, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after a meeting in London that the rebels had to overcome their differences and commit themselves to the talks in the Swiss city that are due to take place in late November.

Tension escalated in Istanbul after police staged an intervention against a group of 50 people gathered in the Beyoglu district late on Oct. 22. The group had come together in support of the demonstrations in Ankara against the controversial Middle East Technical University (ODTU) road project.

Police used water cannon trucks (TOMA) to disperse a group that had gathered in front of Galatasaray High School on İstiklal Avenue, near Taksim Square. One person was taken to hospital after being injured due to pressurized water.

According to the channel, protests were aimed against the construction of the road through the campus of Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi, as well as cutting down trees.

While commenting on the protests, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that such actions can not stop the activity of the government even if the mosques are demolished to construct the roads or other measures are carried out for the development of the country.

Turkish families with three or more children will be exempt from paying taxes, Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Shimshek said during a debate on the 2014 state budget in the country's Parliament, Sabah newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the publication, Turkey's budget for the next year allocated 78.5 billion lira for education and 30.4 billion lira for social assistance to low-income families.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for increasing the birth rate in the country.

Britain lifted a production ban on the huge Rhum North Sea gas field, co-owned by BP and the Iranian Oil Company, to prevent any damage to the environment and the field after it shut in 2010 due to EU sanctions on Iranian firms, Reuters reported.

The energy ministry said on Tuesday it was allowing the restart to prevent permanent damage to the high-pressure, high-temperature field, which was not designed to remain shut permanently.

The Oil Ministry of Iran has rejected some news published by domestic media that Chinese investors have cancelled financing $20 billion worth of petrochemical projects in Iran, the Shan News Agency reported.

Chinese investors have generally agreed to invest in Iran's petrochemical sector and there is no problem in this regard, the report said.

On Monday, the Mehr News Agency reported that Chinese investors have not met their obligations to invest $20 billion in Iran's petrochemical projects.

Before giving Iran conditions, the U.S. political leaders must first exit their oblivion, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said during his speech in the country's parliament, Fars news agency reported.

Larijani's remarks came in response to the conditions that came from the US officials regarding the upcoming Nov. 23 Geneva 2 conference on Syrian conflict.

At present, Afghanistan is a springboard for drug producers and terrorist groups in the eyes of the world community. However, historically, the role of this state in the world production of opiates was insignificant. The situation changed in the 1970s, when bans on cultivation of opium poppy were imposed in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Thus, the producers began to develop the territory of Afghanistan, where the ongoing socio-political crisis had created the necessary conditions for this type of illegal economic activity.

In late 2016, the media reported that Moscow had contacts with the Taliban. Special Representative of the President of Russia on Afghanistan Z. Kabulov confirmed that the Russian side had contacts with the Taliban. As the main arguments in favor of such a position of Moscow, Z. Kabulov named the fact that the Taliban is fighting against the same insurgents in Afghanistan whom Russian is bombing in Syria. Secondly, the Taliban has rejected the idea of ​​global jihad. Thirdly, their primary goal is to save the country from the occupation and establish an independent government.

The Turkic factor becomes crucial in the involvement of Turkey in the integration processes taking place in Greater Asia and its rapprochement with Russia as a state that is actively promoting these integration projects in the international relations. The fact is, in the prevailing geopolitical situation in the world, Turkey's rapprochement with Russia meets the long-term interests of not only Turkey itself, but also the interests of the Turkic peoples of the Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan.

One of the main purposes of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – to fight against international terrorism and to prevent it from penetrating the territory of the CSTO member countries – can only be achieved in close cooperation with Iran. This is due primarily to the fact that Iran has accumulated vast experience in countering international terrorism and extremism, as well as the aggressive policy of their sponsors, such as the United States and Saudi Arabia.

In Turkey, after the failed coup attempt on July 16, 2016, there goes on the sweeping of public ranks supported by the accumulated anti-American sentiment. The latter get amplified every day. Washington becomes a real demon for both the current Turkish leadership and the people of the country.

They're not on speaking terms over art. From now on, the relationship between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be described with these words. The thing to blame is the hardly talented and barely funny satire on the head of Turkey, which German comedian Ian Bemermann took the liberty of doing while on the air of the “ZDF” TV company.

At present, Afghanistan is a springboard for drug producers and terrorist groups in the eyes of the world community. However, historically, the role of this state in the world production of opiates was insignificant. The situation changed in the 1970s, when bans on cultivation of opium poppy were imposed in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Thus, the producers began to develop the territory of Afghanistan, where the ongoing socio-political crisis had created the necessary conditions for this type of illegal economic activity.

In late 2016, the media reported that Moscow had contacts with the Taliban. Special Representative of the President of Russia on Afghanistan Z. Kabulov confirmed that the Russian side had contacts with the Taliban. As the main arguments in favor of such a position of Moscow, Z. Kabulov named the fact that the Taliban is fighting against the same insurgents in Afghanistan whom Russian is bombing in Syria. Secondly, the Taliban has rejected the idea of ​​global jihad. Thirdly, their primary goal is to save the country from the occupation and establish an independent government.